Exhibit: This Is Strobridge!

Discover the creative imagination of Cincinnati-based Strobridge Lithographing Company—one of America’s most famous printing companies! In conjunction with the Cincinnati Art Museum’s exhibit, a display of the Library’s collection theater and circus posters, calendar cards, and other materials will be on view from March 5 – May 13 in the Main Libary’s Cincinnati Room. Founded in the late nineteenth century, the Strobridge Lithographing Company was a leader in outdoor advertisement for amusement enterprises. The exhibition emphasizes the spectacular circus and theater posters, which made the reputation and fortune of the company. They help define a period of American social and visual history and bear vibrant witness to a time when this form of popular art was moving to the center of outdoor commercial advertising.

Related Program: “From Desperate Housewives to American Idols: Popular Performances 100 Years Ago From the Strobridge Collection”

What did Americans do for entertainment 100 years ago? While there was no television, there was nonetheless a good deal of popular entertainment that resembles the very best—and worst—of American television today. With clues from the gorgeously illustrated Strobridge poster collection, Dr. Johnson will trace the highlights of popular performances including theatre, musicals, and minstrelsy. From Ben Hur to Peter Pan to award-winning melodrama, there is something here for everyone.